Russian court to rule whether Pussy Riot member can be released

A Russian court is to consider whether Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, one of the jailed Pussy Riot band members, is eligible for early release after serving half her sentence.

Pussy Riot member Nadezhda TolokonnikovaPhoto: AFP

By Associated Press

11:40AM BST 26 Apr 2013

Tolokonnikova, who has been in custody since her arrest last March, is serving the sentence for the band's protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

A court in Zubova Polyana opened the hearings on Friday morning in the central province of Mordovia, home to a sprawling web of Soviet-era prison camps.

Tolokonnikova and two other female members of the punk band were convicted last year of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred for an anti-Putin performance at Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral. One of the women, Yekaterina Samutsevich, has had her sentence suspended on appeal.

Tolokonnikova, 23, dressed in a Soviet-style dark-blue prison uniform with a white scarf around her neck, told the court that the prison colony did not support her plea of early release because she "didn't repent." Russian law does not make repentance a condition for an early release.

Defence lawyers urged the court to release Tolokonnikova so that she can take care of her five-year-old daughter. Attorney Dmitry Dinze also complained that prison officials seem unable to provide proper conditions to treat her persistent headaches.